A Loft Made for Easy Living

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When Winsome Brown and Claude Arpels set out to establish a family home in a sunlit loft high above Tribeca, their primary objective was to give their creativity—and their two young children—free rein in the downtown Manhattan space. "Our idea was to make room for thought and imagination," says Brown, an actress and writer who grew up in Toronto. "It would be a little bit like an art gallery—things could be movable."

The interior also had to be indestructible, according to architect Lee Mindel, of Shelton, Mindel & Associates, who was inspired by the simplicity and light of a Scandinavian schoolroom to create a backdrop to the artful life this young couple lives, as well as a place that could withstand the cartwheels and paintbrushes of their children—Maud, six, and Philomena, four. "The space is really used; it takes a beating and holds up well," says Mindel, who rigorously distilled the loft's industrial architecture to the practicality of a day-care center.

In this sense, the furniture also reflects the youthful spirit of the home. Italian sectional sofas in the living area are "like trampolines," Mindel explains, and bright-yellow and orange felt cubes resemble playground blocks. Even the palette is primary, like a schoolyard, albeit a very sophisticated one. Yellow bands on Irish industrial rugs further delineate the space, and blood-red Todd Bracher end tables look like melting teardrops. Glossy Prouvé dining chairs and Alvar Aalto stools at the kitchen counter add to the basic design vocabulary. "I like the unfanciness of it, the idea that the kids can catapult around the loft and that nothing is off limits to them," says Mindel. "The architecture is reduced to what you need, not necessarily what you want."

Given that Arpels, an entrepreneur, is the son of the famous French jeweler Claude Arpels (who helped run the family's company, Van Cleef & Arpels, until 1987), it's not surprising that an artistic sensibility is in evidence. Art shares these bright spaces with the children, but it's art with a very personal provenance, from Adam Fuss photograms hanging near paintings by Arpels's father to portraits of the kids by Theresa Byrnes. The maple veneer on the low-slung cabinets that run along the perimeter was crafted by Claude's friend Philippe Prelati of Atelier Prelati. A series of self-portraits in the dining area is by André Gregory, another friend, and two drawings are by yet another close pal, artist Mahmoud Hamadani.

"We're lucky to have so many talented friends," says Brown, who envisioned the free-flowing areas as the setting for intimate performance art, such as the recent party they held for their friend George Steel, the general manager of the New York City Opera. "We just wheeled the piano out there into the living room," she says, standing in the dining area, where they also had just hosted an exhibition of Gregory's portraits, hanging the drawings on the windows. Then there's the area she calls the playroom—for kids, dramatists, and dancers alike—where paintbrushes and crayons team up with guitars and Maud's viola da gamba. Brown adds, "It's both a luxury and a necessity to have a room where you can really make a mess."

With windows on three sides, the loft gets sunlight all day long and boasts endless views of the New York skyline and the Hudson River. Mindel did not want to tinker with that natural element. So he carved out a flexible space using floating light panels and continuous pale wood bookcases to loosely define the living, dining, and playroom areas. In lofts, storage is a constant issue; here the bookcases host everything from kids' toys and paint sets to an errant book of music for Bach's six cello suites. Sliding doors off the master bedroom and the children's bedroom create privacy. Even the flat-screen television is tucked away behind a sliding metal panel in the library.

A graduate of the professional course at the French Culinary Institute, Arpels is a passionate cook, and he provides the food for his wife's artistic gatherings. For that reason the kitchen had to be open to the dining area, and it also had to be industrial strength. Mindel ordered up a custom-designed enameled-steel kitchen from the Swiss manufacturer Forster, and the couple completed it with a thermal-immersion circulator for sous vide cooking and a powerful induction burner. There are three ovens so, as Arpels explains, "there is never any need to juggle ovens during Thanksgiving." And every possible appliance—juicer, ice-cream maker, mixer, and toaster—is cleverly stashed behind steel "garage doors" on the countertop. When he isn't cooking classic French "one-pot" dishes or favorite recipes from Larousse, Robuchon, or Bocuse, Arpels likes to whip up Indian food.

"He is a real chef," says Brown, recalling a Babette's Feast–style Valentine's Day dinner where Arpels served up a mustard soufflé with quail eggs in the center. "I must say it is great for me. I never have to worry about getting dinner on the table."